NHS announces new IT head - IT Pro
UK - The Department off Health said Sir Bruce Keogh will now lead NHS IT.
The Department of Health(DoH) has found a new head of NHS IT, after the previous occupant left the role after just a few months.
Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS Medical Director, will take over as interim Director General for Informatics at the DoH following Matthew Swindells departure to public sector consultancy Tribal Group at the end of his secondment to the department.
Swindells role as chief information officer was created after Richard Granger left earlier this year. Granger had been the highest paid civil servant in the UK.
Keogh joined the DoH in November of last year and has worked on the bodys informatics review. The role means Keogh is in charge of NHS Connecting for Health, the implementation of the informatics review, and the £12 billion National Programme for IT (NPfIT) – the NHS massive IT upgrade.
He said: "As the first NHS Medical Director, my clear priorities are to drive improvements in clinical quality and safety in the services we provide for our patients. It is absolutely clear to me that this can only be achieved by accelerating the development and uptake of reliable, local and national information systems which will make the jobs of manager and clinicians easier and enable them to focus on improving clinical quality."
Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has been NHS Medical Director since November 2007 and is responsible for the Clinical Programmes, Healthcare Quality and Medicines, Pharmacy and Industry Directorates within the Department of Health.
Keogh was previously a lecturer and a cardiothoracic surgeon, and was knighted for his services to the medical community in 2003.
Conservatives weigh in to row about NHS polyclinics – UK Pharma times
Conservative leader David Cameron MP has joined the recent debate about the Government’s proposal to introduce polyclinics in primary care.
Speaking at the Kings Fund, Mr Cameron warned that if Government proposals for 150 ‘polyclinics’ (new one-stop centres offering GP and nurse-led primary care, a wide range of diagnostic tests and even minor operations) materialise, Conservative estimates suggest that up to 1,700 GP practices – 20% of the UK’s total - might close.
It’s the end of the world as we know it
Mr Cameron told delegates: “Labour has already tried to bring about the end of the district general hospital. Now they are trying to abolish the family doctor service. Communities which have lost their Post Office, their local shops and their local police station, are now going to lose their doctor. Of course there are circumstances where GPs coming together in larger practices or larger premises, and offering new services, are entirely welcome. What I object to is the government's policy of imposing polyclinics on local communities without public support and in the face of opposition from doctors."
Polyclinics have attracted criticism from the GP committee of the British Medical Association. However, no polyclinics have yet been introduced in the NHS. Mr Cameron did not make clear the source of his estimated figures.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson said that the remarks showed Mr Cameron "misleading the public", and that the Conservatives were opponents of NHS investment. Mr Johnson added: "we are opening 150 new GP-run health centres, open from 0800 to 2000, seven days a week. Because this programme is all paid for with new money, none of it will lead to a reduction in traditional GP services."
The idea of polyclinics, which are common in Germany, first took UK policy form in surgeon and Health Minister Lord Ara Darzi’s 2007 review of NHS services in London. In recent weeks, the NHS Confederation has called for a “more rational debate” about polyclinics with its report Ideas From Darzi: Polyclinics, and the NHS Alliance has suggested in its report In Sickness And In Health that polyclinics might in some areas be introduced as ‘virtual’ integrated care organisations.
Wales "now has more patients than people" – UK Pharam Times
The official population of Wales is 2.9 million, but 3 million people are now registered with general practitioners in the country, as English people living near the border register with Welsh doctors in order to avoid paying the £7.10 prescription charge, Welsh Conservatives have claimed.
Welsh National Health Service prescriptions have increased 5% since the national Assembly abolished prescription charges in April 2007, and opposition Assembly Members claim this has led to what they term “medical apartheid” or “prescription tourism” from England.
But First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan defended the policy stoutly during a heated Assembly debate on the issue last week, telling the Conservatives that their claims were “lunatic” and that the policy was not being abused. To Liberal Democrat health spokeswoman Jenny Randerson, who has also strongly opposed the policy, Mr Morgan said: “Accept that free prescriptions has happened. It's a success. You didn't like it, you continue not to like it, but for God’s sake use some sensible arguments.”
Assembly officials said the discrepancy in the population figures was a long-standing problem and due mainly to people registering with a new practice before deregistering with their old one.
Of the four UK nations, only England seems set to retain its current system of prescription charges and exemptions, despite calls for change. In April, after English prescription charges rose 25p, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain described the present system as “illogical and unfair” and called for an urgent review. There is also a case for abolishing prescription charges altogether, although the implications of doing so would be considerable, said Paul Bennett, chairman of the Society’s English Pharmacy Board. However, the Department of Health says that prescription charges provided a “valuable” £430 million to the NHS in 2006-7, and that abolishing them would significantly reduce the money available to deliver other health priorities.
Northern Ireland froze prescription charges this April and Health Minister Michael McGimpsey says he is considering “a range of options” for their future. Also in April, Scotland reduced the charges 25% as part of a gradual process towards abolishing them altogether by April 2011, and has set aside £20 million for this year, £32 million for 2009, £45 million for 2010 and £57 million for 2011 to cover the cost of the increase in prescriptions, which is expected to be 1% each year until 2011, when a 5% increase is forecast.
IT academy opens for NHS staff- Shields Gazette
UK - A pioneering training academy for health workers across North East England has opened in South Tyneside. The first Microsoft IT Academy is based at The Glen Primary Care Centre, Hebburn, and offers a single, comprehensive route for NHS staff in the region for all IT training and will be a beacon site for the rest of the country. Beginners all the way through to an advanced level can take part in the training, which is provided by Microsoft-accredited trainers. The vast majority of courses are also Microsoft accredited and certified. Vicki Taylor, director of human resources and organisational development with NHS South of Tyne and Wear, said: "It is gratifying to see how the partnership between the NHS and Microsoft has led to the development of this exciting training facility. "It presents an exciting opportunity for staff to develop their IT skills and enhance their personal and professional development. "It is a great achievement for the NHS in the north east and I am sure it will be tremendously successful." Terry Killer, skills manager with Microsoft, added: "The academy is all about improving skills in IT, which can be of great benefit to NHS staff, both in their roles and in their day-to-day lives. "Local staff now have every opportunity to access a wealth of accredited learning in the way that suits them best." David Levison, e-learning manager with NHS South of Tyne and Wear, said: "The prospectus has been developed based primarily on feedback from learners about what they want. "It gives them the flexibility to study courses directly applicable to their job role at a time and place that suits them. "We are grateful to the staff of The Glen Primary Care Centre for their support in making this academy a reality." The full article contains 304 words and appears in n/a newspaper.